New Bill Mandates Sexual Harassment Training For City Employees

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia voters will be asked to approve a charter change to require mandatory sexual harassment training for all city employees.

A bill to put the referendum on the May primary ballot passed city council unanimously on Thursday.

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, who sponsored the referendum legislation, called it unprecedented.

“Sexual harassment in the workplace is a widespread, inter-generational, and complex epidemic that has been unrightfully endured by women employees for far too long,” she said. “While we cannot cure the societal issues surrounding sexual harassment by mandating sexual harassment training alone, this is a concrete step that is long overdue.”

Reynolds Brown says the training would spread awareness of what harassment is and how to identify it “including grey areas that lead to uncomfortable working dynamics.”

Brown’s female council colleagues cheered the move, all saying they or someone they know has been a victim.